THE

LIBERTARIAN

ENTERPRISE

Good Will Toward Men

Thoughtful women are fighting back against gender feminism's "war on
men." One indication that they are succeeding is the malicious
backlash they encounter. A few years ago, women opposing gender
feminism would have been ignored.

The latest target of the backlash gender feminists are unleashing
against their critics is the renowned gender-feminist critic,
Christina Hoff Sommers. Sommers was recently silenced by government
officials who told her to cease her presentation at a tax-funded
conference to which she had been invited. Sommers' transgression? She
called for scientific studies to evaluate the effectiveness of
government programs. During a Q&A session, professor Jay Wade, an
expert on "listening skills" at Fordham University, shouted for
Sommers to "shut the f up, bch!" The audience laughed. The
organizers made no objection.

Women who object to gender feminism are accustomed to such abuse.
Trudy Schuett, publisher of The DesertLight Journal, crusades for
fathers' rights in custody suits. As a result, Schuett states, "I've
been called a 'fathers' rights whore,' and I've had the obligatory
death threat  goes with the territory."

A recent book by former National Organization for Women insider Tammy
Bruce  The New Thought Police: Inside the Left's Assault on Free
Speech and Free Minds  documents the witch hunt against dissenters
that has been standard operating procedure for years. But the
openness of their attacks is new.

For example, after I lectured at a recent seminar, an anonymous
poster on the NOW Web site's bulletin board announced that I'd had an
"affair" with a student  an accusation not only false but also
damaging to my career. My husband protested this libel in an e-mail
to the webmaster but he was ignored. When I sent a similar objection
suggesting I may be moved to take legal action, the posts were
deleted.

The NOW bulletin board became a moderated forum monitored by the NOW
staff supposedly to control the excesses of members who posted
inappropriately. The bulletin board shut down about a month ago after
a poster called for members to harass a family. The family's personal
data, including their address, was posted on the board, and the
family consulted a lawyer. As of now, NOW has no active bulletin
board on their site.

For victims of feminist malice to successfully fight back is another
new development. For example, in response to a public outcry on
behalf of Sommers, an official in the Bush administration issued a
letter that amounted to an apology. If Sommers had been male,
however, it is not clear whether the gesture would have occurred.

Men have been so maligned by our society that they are not taken
seriously when they protest. The process began in the mid-70s. In her
1976 book Our Blood, gender feminist Andrea Dworkin wrote, "Under
patriarchy [white male culture], every woman's son is her potential
betrayer and also the inevitable rapist or exploiter of another
woman." This is what the politically aware mother was supposed to see
when she looked down into the face of her newly born son.

Bias against men has become rampant. Even critics of gender feminism
often embrace a subtle anti-male message: For example, the belief
that women are the victims of domestic violence even though
Department of Justice statistics indicate that each sex attacks
equally.

The bias is absorbed almost by osmosis ... gender feminists dominate
the university system and have done so for over two decades.
Government agencies  especially under Bill Clinton  offer them
mega-tax dollars for gender studies and research. An uncritical media
broadcasts the studies. And so, an anti-male bias in ideology and
methodology trickles downward to those in the "helping professions,"
such as the social worker who now suspects every father to be a
potential child abuser.

Warren Farrell  author of The Myth of Male Power, among other books
 has been a strong voice in calling for fairness to men. Elected
three times to the board of NOW in New York City, Farrell was a
feminist hero in the '70s because he epitomized "the enlightened
man," a man who argued for their goals. Farrell is still enlightened,
but NOW no longer deigns to notice, because he disagrees.

In a recent book challenging men to speak up  "Women Can't Hear What
Men Don't Say"  Farrell distinguishes two forms of feminism:
adolescent and adult. Adolescent feminists focus on rights while
ignoring responsibilities; adult feminists assume responsibility.

In addition to emphasizing the need for men to speak up, Farrell
urges women to defend the men in their lives against a campaign of
slander. Just as society would protest statements such as "blacks are
violent," so too should people object to messages such as "men
oppress women." In today's political environment, the voices of women
are the only ones that will be heard. They can create what Farrell
calls "a tear" because dissenting women reveal a damning truth about
gender feminism: The ideology is also anti-woman ... if the woman has
a mind of her own.

As a Christmas present to the men in your life, make a commitment to
stand up for them. Do not tolerate slander directed toward those you
love. The infant son you hold in your arms is not an inevitable
rapist or exploiter of women. The father who worked every day to make
you safe and comfortable is not an enemy. The husband with whom you
are planning a future is not a part of "the rape culture." They are
family, friends and good neighbors.

To all my readers: Happy Holidays, and good will toward men.

McElroy is the editor of Ifeminists.com. She also edited
Freedom, Feminism, and the State (Independent Institute, 1999) and Sexual
Correctness: The Gender Feminist Attack on Women (McFarland, 1996).
She lives with her husband in Canada.

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